BBC chiefs fear the time their top stars spend on writing books is undermining programme quality.

Material by Jeremy Paxman, Andrew Marr, Robert Peston and John Sweeney are among 20 books out this Christmas with independent publishers.

Yet festive TV schedules contain 96 hours of repeats and some fear that, in the wake of the Jimmy Savile debacle, staff have taken their eye off the ball.

Many presenters have production companies and are contracted only by the BBC. Their books are often based on BBC documentaries, including Empire: What Ruling The World Did To The British by Paxman, who is paid more than £1million a year.

There has been no change to the guidelines

BBC

A BBC contractor said: “A lot of people are fuming over this. The BBC is a huge platform given to them by the licence fee payer. There are several conflicts of interest, which could breach BBC editorial guidelines.”

The BBC said: “The BBC has clear guidelines for presenters who wish to write their own books, with each proposal judged on a case-by-case basis. There has been no change to the guidelines.”